Sun Jun 5 17:16:26 2011

At 8 o'clock PM, Day of Freedom, 11th of the Month of the Battle
on the Theran calendar Gurzgred perished, never to return.

This is a damn shame, the Fortress as a whole is weakened by your departure. I was saddened to learn that you were doing a CON quest, since it usually means someone is rather beat up. Well regardless, I enjoyed our interactions and how our relationship developed as we were coming up and heroes. I look forward to your next incarnation.

You tried to interact with me on several occassions but I just had a hard time grasping the substance of this character. Over time (and with A LOT of watching) I noticed that the character was really well thought out.

I had multiple discussions with Padwei about how impressive your "story" was, as you fell from grace and rose back up from it. That is what legends are made of in the world of CF.

As a mortal enemy, you were a beast to fight. Both you and Chulun defined Dwarven grit over the past few months and it was very reassuring.

It definately made Sapper-Dwarf Thror proud. Great job and good luck on the next.

I'm sorry if I felt like a substanceless character at times. If that vibe was given off it was likely more my fault than anything else. And yeah, I did want to interact with Thror just for the dwarven comraderie. A pity it never came to fruition.

I really didn't spend much time with you as ally or foe since you made it pretty clear you did not care for Nexuns. Understandable of course, but you made your dislike of us quite clear, which made doing anything with you when balance required a little strained. I don't think we ever really fought, but I imagine if we had it would have been a bad day for me.

Tiamat was interesting, and you certainly made the trip more entertaining with your RP. I won't say anything more about that whole event until Allysia is gone for good.

Keep bringing these high caliber chars to CF, it's a better place with them in it. Hope to see you back in the fields soon.

As far as Nexans go I generally liked Allysia. It was hard to see through my clouds of nexus hate but I thought you were a powerful character and a good rhyme. As for if we would have fought- I'd have lay money on you. Bards tended to work me over pretty badly.

So sad to see you go. Obviously I'm not really an ally or an enemy, but good roleplay regardless, and thanks for giving me great material to work with and to take time out of the fray to hang out at the inn to humor me with an "exclusive interview".

Good luck with your next!

Very nice job. Hated you in IC but respected you behind the keyboard. IC always thought you were too dwarfy I suppose. But then my guy is never supposed to have a fondness for dwarves anyhow. Got you one time at the Tree. After that I kinda let you go your way and I go mine without going out of my way to hunt you down. You were never an easy fight. That time at the Maran where I pulled out a skin I made from you and drank some water? Totally random, my first skin was out of water, so I just happened to pull that skin out. It was fun times all around, especially when I mixed up with you and the two others right there at the Maran. Anyway I'm rambling but either way, well played char from what I saw.

GLYWN

Wow. A real journey, but one I was definitely ready to end.

Gurzgred almost got deleted no less than four times. One time even entering into the rage deletion period. I funny death tells saved me twice. Once when I got bashed down by Skenhog and Death told me 'I bet Bash did this.' and the other when I fell to a gangsquad and I got the message 'Arvam tells you "Hey, at least you didn't die to me!"'

Both of those messages made me think and giggle and I managed to just quit out instead of delete. Another time I was frustrated with a lot of things and was about to hit the key when some immortal gave me a nondescript, functionally useless lucky gold coin. I don't know who it was, but thank you. Even that little nudge kept me going.

I honestly have no idea where to begin with goodbyes. I'll cover the ones who really stood out to me. If I forget you, please don't feel slighted, I'm churning this goodbye out on the spot with little pre-planning. I'll try to respond to anyone I missed.

First and foremost thank you to the immortals, as always.

Padwei, Nnaeshuk, Adekar- You all kept this character going. Especially Nnaeshuk and even more so Padwei. There were a lot of times I got very frustrated with varying situations and your guidance and patience was inspirational and always in good taste. Aside from that, all of our individual talks were great- Adekar, I wish we could have had some more chats because you and I always seemed to talk at a bad time.

Padwei- At first I was nervous about following you because I didn't think maran/aco goddess fit well together. But the Red Hunter facet to your religion and role was literally a perfect fit for desert born Gurzgred. Literally perfect. Every interaction was nothing short of wonderful and thank you for seeing me through both the bad times and the good. You are the epitome of an Acolyte and a true boon to the Fortress.

Nnaeshuk- I said what I wanted to say in game. You're the ####ing bee's knees.

Rhone- Running buddy. What a force we were. Dear god it was brutal watching us tear through things together. I said all I had to say in game to you as well. You know I hold you in the highest esteem and easily the best Marshall in semi recent memory.

Sivyh- I really admired your courage and willingness to throw down. One of the few Imperials and enemies in general that I knew would bring the fight to me, or would show up if I brought the fight to them.

Nevaelle- I wish you were around more. You made Gurz 20* tougher than he was on his own.

Jaljabbuk- PREP AT LEAST A LITTLE BIT. Christ. I rarely did anything beyond stoneskin/prot. Even that little bit would have helped you out exponentially.

Eljassir- #### the mongoose. Cheetah is ####. I don't think I ever once successfully fled from you, in all our fights. It was kill you or make you flee. There were no other options for my survival.

Battle- You all gave some good fights. I wish Team Rager Hiders would have fought me a bit more, but if I were Team Rager Hider I wouldn't have been throwing myself at Gurzgred either. Since I wasn't a mage, and fighting me on my terms was just foolish.

Draktah/Dryaven- I know all too well what duergar sword is capable of(I was Hralpelk). I was very scared fighting you both due to that knowledge. You all both have a lot of potential and could be a real wrecking force for Empire in the future.

Mharlndarn- I never got a cowardly vibe from you and more than anything else I wanted to kill you 1v1. I almost did, in Hamsah. I really wonder how close I came to getting you. Stupid 85% misdirect letting me down. I thought you were well roleplayed and a serious threat. You, Flaaayin, and Onya were easily the three toughest evils. And the three people I never nailed.

Onya- See Mharlndarn. I wanted to get you badly too. And I had my chance and blew it. Ugh. Well played, very hard to fight.


Gurzgred's roleplay was very fun. I originally set out to play what I thought a dwarf was, but Gurzgred turned into his own individual character instead of just the embodiment of a dwarf. He was stubborn and callous, innerly conflicated on numerous things, prideful to a fault(Hi Borkahd!) and reckless. I'm sorry I didn't bear my punishment more gracefully(mainly the reckless flaw). I know I bitched about it in some instances, but god damn was that thing brutal. Gurzgred might have lived 400+ hours if not for it(or he would have deleted earlier due to boredom). Finally making it back to Maran seemed a good way to end the character. And besides, I've been cooking up an evil build for about a month anyway.

Also: To the Immortal Team Tiamat, I was curious if you all saw our plan in action. Is that what you envisioned used to bring Tiamat down?

I never would have guessed you were about to con die. You came out of nowhere, kicked the crap out of all my lowbie lackies, heroed, leadered, and now con dead. Before I've even heroed. I think some people play this game with a breakneck abandon that I just can't imagine playing with.

Good luck with your next.

I interacted slightly with Gurzgred before Eljassir, and I was impressed.

I interacted with Hralpelk many months ago and thought that was an awesome character.

I fought Gurzgred a ton with Eljassir, and even though you thought the cheetah was the bane of your existence there, your mother#####n impales really really tended to keep me out of commission for a while there.

I think the tally was Gurzgred solo 1 Eljassir solo 0, Gurzgred + gang 2 Eljassir + gang 3. So technically you won that battle.

My favorite battle was after I and the Nexuns slaughtered the village, and you ran in trying to kill me to see Chulun entwine you. I thought you were dead for sure there, but orb of travel for the win.

Great job, looking forward to more from the player.

Many things about Gurzgred that doesn't go well with Chulun:

Calling Chulun a kinslayer, while if you ever get a chance, you would skin me too and have tried to many times, mostly when I was hurt.

Refused my aid for help taking the orb back from a strong Empire.

Gurzgred told Chulun something along the lines of "You are not my equal." Not a good impression of a "Humbled Hunter"...

I read the Cry of Deliverance's helpfile and it is used for when fighting the darkness of heart, while I don't blame you for using it.. I must bring it out. Also, you tell Chulun you shall treated him as one of the wicked of heart for hunting the Light.

Otherwise.. good character!

n/t

nt

Good times. Thanks for showing me the power of phoenix brand. I played a maran warrior a few years back and seriously underused that - I mean, damn, I half want my next character to be a swordspec.

As I told you in game, it would have been very hard to continue on when Athioles' playtimes dwindled and he deleted without other strong presences in Fortress like Gurz. And when I think of CF, I'll be grateful to Gurzgred/you for being such a consistent (albeit dramatic) presence the last few months. I know it must have been hard, particularly with that flaw, but you made the gaming experience much better for a lot of people

And I cannot believe some of the stuff we accomplished. At times it truly felt like the stuff of CF legend.

Thanks for the kind words, and yeah I definitely think PB is a very underused power. If I was a Maran flurry spec with the ability to make anyone I'm fighting vuln to a common attack type/attack type that I can make. Sheesh.

Ugh. I still thought it'd be a good idea to run together occasionally, but you nearly never allowed me to tag along or accepted an offer of help. I had no idea why, and eventually just came to think Gurzgred had a RP reason not to.

So we didn't interact much, short of the interview and my induction, but it seems you had fun, and that's what matters. Good luck with your next.

You're probably right. The whole solo thing was typically because in my experience it tends to be easier to get a fight and consequently seal a kill 1v1 unless the 2v1 have good chemistry together with timing their like, synching their prep times etc. Rhone had an uncanny knack for showing up wherever I was doing whatever I was doing and then I'd go along with it. But I think I most likely could have(and should have) run with you more.

But in a good way. Gurzgred was the kind of character that made me
want to be more active in terms of interaction, and sadly I can't say
that about a lot of people these days. But beyond that, I'm glad you
showed up at the shrine that one day for whatever it was, whether
arak or conversation. There were countless times when I could tell
you were getting frustrated and I did the best I could to shift your
perspective to what was important (and ultimately I think we can
apply that outside of game too).

Should you have the time and/or inclination, drop me a line at
padwei@carrionfields.com - I'm curious about something. You were
by far one of my favorite interactions, and I hope we see you back
around soon!


Your song:
Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promise - The Avett Brothers

I always like seeing characters change and evolve throughout the life of the character. Hopefully you enjoyed the interactions as much as I did, because I certainly had a good time coming down and talking with/interacting with you. I'm glad you overcame that big bump in the characters life and stuck it out in the end. Best of luck with whatever is next.

Nae-nae!

Thanks for the kind words, you really helped me stick this one through.

>Sivyh- I really admired your courage and willingness to throw
>down. One of the few Imperials and enemies in general that I
>knew would bring the fight to me, or would show up if I
>brought the fight to them.

For once I'd like to be "the guy who shows up when he can actually make a difference but otherwise opts out entirely" instead of "the guy who always shows up but frequently dies without accomplishing anything." The hard part is doing that without being "the guy who rarely shows up and is a total wuss." I'm not good enough to pull off #1 without it becoming #3 so I usually end up closer to #2.

You're closer to #1 than you think you are. You beat my ass quite a few times and I was more trying to compliment you for fighting(and generally being tough) than anything else.

Tough as nails opponent, I knew if you were on I wasn't going to get a free moment. Zaan had a lot of respect for such a music lover. You also seem to have inspired a whole platoon of dwarf forties. GLWYN.

In retrospect I'm not sure I ever pinned you down 1v1. I know you got away a few times but I'm pretty sure as far as the tally goes, you were in the lead for our conflicts. I appreciated your sportsmanship and your quirky roleplay. Very fun.

You were an amazingly strong fighter and one I did not feel happy going against if the Light tipped. I can and will attack villagers all day long but you truthfully scared me at times. I did what I told you I would, hate that we had to battle so much the last few days but it's part of the job. Good luck with your next.

I'm glad you thought I was tough because I felt somewhat futile against you on more than one occasion. The hidden thief bond kill on me was just brutal.

Like I said in character, I liked you.

Hope you enjoyed all the traps!

You had it rough, but thanks for trying to fight instead of JUST trap. Lord knows those traps were debilitating though.

Thanks for the gear, glad you got it back.
Thats what I get for dying a newb death to you guys.. Transmuter
jumping 2 ragers and one ex-maran without wielding any weapons.

Did arial malleability really give you that much trouble?

The pendant was a 'tribute to Padwei' IC, but OOC I was hoping someone would take it. It was my little way of trying to circulate the Tiamat gear. I think all of her gear from my end is still in circulation, too.

And yes, arial malleability was a bitch.

Awesome char, true maran. The maran that actually goes and hunts the evil. One who brings the battle to his enemies. Only one non-village warrior that forced me to use the barrier against you all the time. Tought and smart. Good luck with your next.

Thanks for the kind words. Though aside from that one series of fights that culminated in Hamsah, you sort of handed me my ass.

I know we didn't really have a whole lot of time spend actually interacting, but I do have to admit it was kinda fun chiding you into smiling more. In 10 years of CF, I think you may actually have been one of the most terrifying allies I've ever had because of your persistence and prepping.

Good luck with your next, mate.

Thank you for being an excellent Acolyte. Gurz needed someone who wasn't cowed into leaving him alone just because he was a calloused jackass. And I'm not sure it was noticeable, but I did try to smile more etc solely because of our interactions and the effort you put forth into them. You're good for the Fort.

I'm sure there's a few people that would argue the point of what sort of Acolyte I am, Padwei included. Lori is who she is though. She'd have threatened to put foot to *** if Gurzgred didn't open up more. Sadly... He just didn't last that long.

Thanks for the compliment though, and as I said before in fewer words, keep on truckin' big guy. Folks like you, and characters like Gurz are hard to come by. Keep the great ones coming.

I had the priveledge of interacting with you with two different chars. Both times it was just awesome. I really enjoyed this character.

GLWYN

Thanks, Drasdan was a solid presence and with your forms and willingness to fight, a deadly ally.

You were one of Onya's favorite enemies, if not the favorite of all. I loved our playful banter as we tried to kill each other. When you were full maran it was almost impossible to pin you down, so I would basically just try to get you to flee, or when I was Nightreaver I would try to lead you into deep forest so I could hopefully use windwalk to track you down, but it never went down. Anytime I actually killed you, you were in quicksand which of course makes things a bit difficult for you. Fighting an invoker with a warrior is just extremely difficult because of an invoker's ability to become immune to your lagging, but there were a couple of times where my heart skipped a beat when you had that eagle marked staff. Few warriors ever give me a real challange, and you definatly did that. At the end there I made sure to have A/B/S and stoneskin for every fight against you. Anyways GLWYN and come back soon. I'll be waiting.

Some of my escapes from you impressed even myself(And I tend to overestimate myself to get out of fights if things get sticky, especially on a character like Gurzgred where I'm sporting ~1.5k hp)

You called it lucky a few times, and while Gurzgred wouldn't admit to an enemy that much of what he did was luck, I knew full and well how lucky I was. Quite a few times though I didn't have the movement to get very far away and had to hide in, literally, the adjacent area and just had to pray you wouldn't stick your head in. Kiadana Rah fights come to mind for those scenarios.

You were very fun to talk to and ugh. You saved lots of 40s level evil outties lives because I had to play much more defensively if you were around.

I really enjoy running around with you. You were funny and you really stuck to your role much better than most people. Lots of people will sacrifice their RP some to do fun things (e.g. go along with pseudo-enemies like that outlander healer) and that you took a hard line impressed me.

Sorry I wasn't there. I was going to throw some con your way now that the RP scene for me has made it possible. Sadly my work life has gotten incredibly busy lately. I'm really hoping it clears up so I can get back to being on constantly again and doing my leadership position justice.

...glad you are still playing.

Looking forward to hearing about more of your characters. One day we'll be on the same team again!